from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Examples

He followed this rhetorical question with the same two notes, ritardando, played four quaver chords, then a bar which disrupted one's expectations by the introduction of a rest and a pair of semiquavers, and very shortly broke into cascades of chorded and unchorded semiquavers that left Pelagia open-mouthed.

But children are usually not able to keep their minds on the task in hand to this extent, and if there is to be a _ritardando_ or a _crescendo_ at a certain point, the only safe thing is to teach this change in tempo or dynamics when first taking up the song, so that the expressional element may become

The more evident changes of this sort are indicated by the composer through such expressions as _ritardando_, _accelerando_, _et cetera_; and it may be well to give at this point a list of the commoner of these terms together with their meanings.

It is not necessary to beat time constantly, and the teacher, after giving the signal for the attack and setting the tempo, may lower the baton, until a _fermata_, or a _ritardando_, or the final tone of the song makes its use necessary again.